The government responded to an independent report (by Bernard Herdan) on the need for public services to develop the necessary skills to enable them to be more citizen-centred and responsive. It supported the main recommendation in the report that a new national standard for customer service should be developed, based on the key drivers of satisfaction.
Source: The Customer Voice in Transforming Public Services: The Government Response, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Response | Cabinet Office press release | Herdan report
Date: 2006-Dec
An article said that in order to understand the effect of public service reforms on worker motivation, a more complex conceptual framework was needed than that provided by either simple public sector ethos/private sector ethos distinctions or by models of economic individualism.
Source: Paul Hoggett, Marjorie Mayo and Chris Miller, 'Private passions, the public good and public service reform', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 40 Number 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Dec
The report of a government-commissioned review identified opportunities to make public service delivery more accessible, convenient, and efficient. It recommended developing a 'change of circumstances' service - starting with bereavement, birth, and change of address - so that citizens did not have to notify multiple public services; and providing citizens and businesses with single information and transactional websites.
Source: David Varney, Service Transformation: A better service for citizens and businesses, a better deal for taxpayers, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report | HMT press release
Date: 2006-Dec
A report said that successful modernization of public services was largely dependent on the professionalism adopted by public servants.
Source: Andrew Massey and William Hutton, Modernizing Governance: Leadership, red flags, trust and professional power, Public Management and Policy Association (020 7543 5679)
Links: Summary | PMPA press release
Date: 2006-Dec
A trade union report said that constant, untested change was threatening the improvements that had been made in public services. The approach to reform should be centred on evidence and thorough testing of plans. Greater long-term improvements could be secured by focusing on increasing collaboration between staff and providers, rather than competition; and on improving the quality of services, rather than increased involvement of the private sector.
Source: TUC Response to the UK Government's Approach to Public Service Reform, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release
Date: 2006-Dec
An article described the reform proposals resulting from the review of public administration in Northern Ireland as either structural changes or administrative rationalization, both devoid of a wider modernizing approach to improving public services.
Source: Colin Knox and Paul Carmichael, 'Bureau shuffling? The review of public administration in Northern Ireland', Public Administration, Volume 84 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Dec
An article reported a study which examined the ethical dimension of public service - in particular, the significance of the language of 'customer' in relation to ethos, and the implications for service delivery of a customer care focus. Respondents voiced concerns about the viability of customer care in the public sector, as well as the sidelining of the political role of citizen.
Source: Catherine Needham, 'Customer care and the public service ethos', Public Administration, Volume 84 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Dec
The government published two reports designed to strengthen the partnership between government and the third sector. An action plan aimed to remove barriers to third sector organizations wishing to become involved in delivering and designing public services. The interim report of a review of the future role of the third sector gave a commitment that three-year funding to third sector organizations would be the norm rather than the exception.
Source: Partnership in Public Services: An action plan for third sector involvement, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527) | The Future Role of the Third Sector in Social and Economic Regeneration: Interim Report, Cabinet Office and HM Treasury
Links: Action plan | Interim report | Cabinet Office press release | HMT press release | Hansard | PCS press release | Acevo press release | NCVO press release | LGA press release | Guardian report | Regeneration & Renewal report
Date: 2006-Dec
A background paper (prepared for a Cabinet discussion of strategic policy priorities) examined progress - and future challenges - across the full range of public services.
Source: Strategic Priorities for the UK: The policy review, Strategy Unit/Cabinet Office (020 7276 1881)
Links: Paper | FT report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
The Welsh Assembly Government announced (in response to an official review) an action plan for changing the way public services were delivered to the people of Wales. Key actions included: establishing Local Service Boards on a local authority area basis to bring main services (both devolved and non-devolved) together to plan and deliver integrated services; improving the way in which public bodies engaged with the people they served based on national standards for key services; and requiring civil servants to support service improvement and translate policy into action, by sitting on Local Service Boards, contributing to expert partnerships, and relying less on old-style bureaucracy to achieve improvement.
Source: Making the Connections: Delivering Beyond Boundaries, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Action plan | Action plan (Welsh) | Beecham Review | WLGA press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Nov
The government published a report on the long-term opportunities and challenges facing the United Kingdom, laying the analytical foundations for the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review. The new challenges which would need to be addressed included demographic and socio-economic change - in particular a rapid increase in the old age dependency ratio.
Source: Long-term Opportunities and Challenges for the UK: Analysis for the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report | HMT press release
Date: 2006-Nov
A think-tank report said that policy-makers should discard 'old obsessions' with choice, consumer satisfaction, and market mechanisms in the public services, and instead endorse the concept of ?public value?. Honouring what the public valued most, rather than hitting centrally imposed targets, should be the principal aim of all public servants.
Source: Louise Horner, Rohit Lekhi and Ricardo Blaug, Deliberative Democracy and the Role of Public Managers, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Nov
A paper examined the ways in which public services and the welfare state were being transformed, through the different forms of privatization and marketization.
Source: Dexter Whitfield, A Typology of Privatisation and Marketisation, Research Report 1, European Services Strategy Unit/Northumbria University (0191 227 3500)
Links: Report | ESSU press release
Date: 2006-Nov
A think-tank report said that the costs of too little data-sharing across the public sector far outweighed the potential risks involved. Citizens should be placed at the centre of any data-sharing policy, so that they had the power to oversee the actions of those who handled their personal data and were able to opt in and out of data-sharing practices.
Source: Alex Karalis Isaac and Claudia Wood, Who Shares Wins? Transforming the public services with intelligent information, Social Market Foundation (020 7222 7060)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Oct
The government said that it was committed to more information-sharing between public sector organizations and service providers. It set out its vision for better, more customer-focused services, supported by greater information-sharing, aimed at protecting and supporting vulnerable individuals and society as a whole.
Source: Information Sharing Vision Statement, Department for Constitutional Affairs (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report | DCA press release | Conservative Party press release | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Sep
An article examined the role of choice in New Labour's approach to the reform of public services. It said that the 'under-specification' of choice in political and policy settings risked devolving the stresses of indeterminacy to service organizations and their interactions with the public.
Source: John Clarke, Nicholas Smith and Elizabeth Vidler, 'The indeterminacy of choice: political, policy and organisational implications', Social Policy and Society, Volume 5 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Sep
The Welsh Assembly Government began consultation on proposals to improve customer service in Welsh public services.
Source: Building Better Customer Service: Core principles for public services, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Consultation document
Date: 2006-Aug
An article said that attempts under Northern Ireland devolution to develop new public services and more publicly oriented public private partnerships had been reversed under direct rule from Westminster.
Source: Goretti Horgan, 'Devolution, direct rule and neo-liberal reconstruction in Northern Ireland', Critical Social Policy, Volume Issue
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Aug
A report (written by senior public servants in central and local government, together with academics) examined the role of public sector managers in the light of a rapidly changing political and social landscape. It said that public sector reform would only be successful if politicians worked with, not against, public service managers.
Source: Michaela Lavender (ed.), What is Public Management For?, Public Management and Policy Association (020 7543 5679)
Links: CIPFA press release
Date: 2006-Aug
The Cabinet Office published its annual report for 2005-06.
Source: Annual Report and Resource Accounts 2005-06, HC 1509, Cabinet Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Aug
A trade union report questioned whether there was sufficient capacity in the third sector to deliver key public services (such as employment services), and whether it could do so more efficiently. It also warned that the advocacy role and independence of voluntary organizations could be compromised as their reliance on government contracts increased: the government was creating a new generation of multi-millionaires, and turning charities into big businesses, by contracting out services provided by the state.
Source: Steve Davies, Third Sector Provision of Employment-Related Services, Public and Commercial Services Union (020 924 2727)
Links: Report | PCS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jul
An employers' report said that more effort should be made to publicize successful methods of giving local people greater control of services. It said that private sector providers had led the way - through wider use of consultation, greater involvement of local people in service delivery, and measuring service performance by assessing the satisfaction of local people.
Source: Empowering Neighbourhoods: Delivering better local services for local people, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: Report | CBI press release | FT report
Date: 2006-Jul
A think-tank report said that government reforms and spending commitments would not be sufficient to solve the public sector s problems of performance and productivity before the next general election (due by 2010 at the latest). Successful National Health Service reform was very far from certain; reforms in the Department of Education and Skills were too limited; and proposed changes to the police service raised new problems of their own. There was a strong case for a much more extensive rate and range of policy improvement.
Source: Andrew Haldenby (ed.), Public Service Reform: 2006-2010, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618)
Date: 2006-Jul
A think-tank report said that attempts to reform public services would only succeed if they focused on the experiences of service users, and became more customer friendly .
Source: Sophia Parker and Joe Heapy, Journey to the Interface: How public service design can connect users to reform, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report | Demos press release
Date: 2006-Jul
An employers' report said that private companies which had taken over the delivery of public services were among some of the best employers, and it was a myth that public service workers preferred to be employed by the state.
Source: Working Together: Embedding good employment in public services, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: Report | CBI press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2006-Jul
The Prime Minister said that voter support for investment in public services was at risk if performance did not improve.
Source: Speech by Tony Blair MP (Prime Minister), 6 June 2006
Links: Text of speech | Downing Street press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2006-Jun
The leader of the opposition Conservative Party said that it should stop making "knee-jerk" attacks on public service workers. He said that his party had "sometimes sounded a little hostile" to the public sector.
Source: Speech by David Cameron MP, 6 June 2006
Links: Conservative Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jun
A discussion paper by a government think-tank set out the main elements of the government's approach to public service reform, and the principles and evidence underpinning them.
Source: Wendy Piatt, Shaun Chau, Najma Rajah and Owain Service, The UK Government s Approach to Public Service Reform, Strategy Unit/Cabinet Office (020 7276 1881)
Links: Discussion paper | Summary | Cabinet Office press release | Speech by Chancellor
Date: 2006-Jun
The Scottish Executive began consultation on proposals to improve public services in Scotland. Public services needed to be more responsive and effective, and faced a number of long-term challenges.
Source: Transforming Public Services: The next phase of reform, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Consultation document | Summary | SE press release
Date: 2006-Jun
The Cabinet Office published its annual report for 2005-06.
Source: Departmental Report 2006, Cm 6833, Cabinet Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-May
The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to allow the government to deliver reform of outdated or over-complicated legislation more quickly, and enable the mergers of those regulators not covered by separate legislation.
Source: Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, Cabinet Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 16 May 2006, columns 871-969, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | HOC Library research paper | Hansard
Date: 2006-May
The Scottish Executive began consultation on proposals for taking forward shared services across the public sector in Scotland, such as shared business support functions and common business processes. It said that shared services could not only release significant efficiency savings for investment in front line services, but also drive up service quality and consistency.
Source: A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Consultation document | SE press release
Date: 2006-May
An article examined differences between newly emerging 'market' relationships and more traditional forms of procurement by public sector organizations. Traditional conceptions of the 'market' and of 'market management' were now outdated, and needed to be revised to take into account the potential of collaborative relationships between multiple stakeholders in the public domain.
Source: Tony Bovaird, 'Developing new forms of partnership with the 'market' in the procurement of public services', Public Administration, Volume 84 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
A new book said that the government was creating markets in public services on an unprecedented scale - in education, health and social care, children s services, housing, planning and regeneration, criminal justice, and the welfare state. Privatization inevitably followed marketization, eroding democratic accountability and embedding business interests.
Source: Dexter Whitfield, New Labour's Attack on Public Services, Spokesman Books (0115 9708318)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Apr
A report by a committee of MPs said that the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, as drafted, gave the government powers which were entirely disproportionate to its stated aim of facilitating the reform of redundant legislation.
Source: Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, Third Report (Session 2005-06), HC 1033, House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2006-Apr
An audit report said that companies and investment banks were no longer so keen to refinance private finance initiative (PFI) schemes since the introduction of regulations allowing the taxpayer to share equally in windfall gains. As a result, estimates of 200 million gains to the Exchequer would fall short by up to 90 million.
Source: Update on PFI Debt Refinancing and the PFI Equity Market, HC 1040 (Session 2005-06), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
A series of articles examined the issue of joined up governance and partnership working in public services (between statutory partners, between the state and the voluntary sector, and between the state and the private sector).
Source: Social Policy and Society, Volume 5 Issue 2
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2006-Apr
A new organization was launched bringing together consumer bodies and representatives of the voluntary and business sectors, to promote public services reform based on six core principles: greater public voice; more flexibility to respond to people s needs; a greater role for the voluntary and private sectors; greater consumer choice; a real focus on customer satisfaction; and motivated staff.
Source: Press release 5 April 2006, Future Services Network (020 7269 9339)
Links: FSN press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
A joint audit report said that government departments should build stronger partnerships with local bodies, in order to acquire a better understanding of the challenges they faced.
Source: Delivering Efficiently: Strengthening the links in public service delivery chains, HC 940 (Session 2005-06), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) and Audit Commission
Links: Report | Joint press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that there was a lack of expertise, experience and understanding of the voluntary and community sector across government departments, with the result that departments failed to capitalize on opportunities to enhance public service delivery through use of the sector.
Source: Working with the Voluntary Sector, Thirty-Second Report (Session 2005-06), HC 717, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Home Office press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A report examined how Futurebuilders England (a government-backed investment scheme) could help voluntary and community organizations play a bigger part in public service delivery. It urged the public sector to talk to potential voluntary sector providers so they, and the public, could benefit from the services available.
Source: Stronger Organisations Deliver Better Public Services, Futurebuilders England Limited (020 7680 7880)
Links: Report | Futurebuilders press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A government report said that future private finance initiative (PFI) projects were unlikely to automatically bundle extra 'soft services' (such as cleaning, catering, and security). The evidence on satisfaction with soft services did not demonstrate value for money as consistently as other elements of the framework.
Source: PFI: Strengthening Long-Term Partnerships, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
The government announced (following a review) that the number of public bodies in Northern Ireland would be cut from 154 to 75.
Source: Press release 21 March 2006, Northern Ireland Office (028 9052 0700)
Links: NIO press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A report said that existing private finance initiative (PFI) structures were unlikely to address all of the challenges in meeting future infrastructure requirements. A broader and more flexible range of approaches needed to be considered in order to deliver critical policy objectives.
Source: Building Flexibility: New delivery models for public infrastructure projects, Deloitte & Touche LLP (020 7303 6410)
Links: Summary | Deloitte and Touche press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A think-tank report said that although Labour governments since 1997 had made significant improvements in the quality of public services, more action was needed. The best means of improving public services was through extending choice to all families. But the state could not act alone - parents also had to show determination to lift their aspirations and those of their family, and families and individuals needed to be empowered to take control of their lives.
Source: Jim Murphy, Social Mobility and Public Service Reform, Policy Network (020 7340 2200)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Feb
A survey found that the government s public service reform agenda was forcing large parts of the community sector to the brink of collapse. The move away from grants towards a contract culture had compromised the independence of organizations previously rooted in local neighbourhoods.
Source: Press release 5 February 2006, British Association of Settlements and Social Action Centres (0845 241 0375)
Links: BASSAC press release
Date: 2006-Feb
A survey report said that most people rejected the trend towards treating everyone as 'consumers': the public saw public services as different from the market-place, and valued their 'publicness'.
Source: John Clarke, Creating Citizen-consumers: Changing relationships and identifications, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: Summary | ESRC press release
Date: 2006-Feb
A think-tank report said that slowing economic growth, looming budget deficits, and increased demand meant that the government should consider introducing or extending user charges in key public services.
Source: Jessica Asato (ed.), Charging Ahead? Spreading the costs of modern public services, Social Market Foundation (020 7222 7060)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Feb
A new book examined the processes behind public-private partnerships, including: the skills of championing and managing the partnership internally; the organizational structure that underpinned most successful partnerships; how to resource and staff the partnership, assuring accountability and good governance; and how to manage and communicate the performance of any partnership.
Source: Michael Geddes, Making Public Private Partnerships Work: Building relationships and understanding cultures, Gower Publishing (01252 331551)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Jan
An article said that the review of public administration in Northern Ireland was being driven by institutional concerns, and was devoid of a public service modernizing agenda. It said that the reforms might result in little more than institutional tinkering with doubtful impact on the quality of public services.
Source: Colin Knox and Paul Carmichael, 'Improving public services: public administration reform in Northern Ireland', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 35 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan
An article said that services had been "under-theorized", in both welfare economics and social policy analysis. Programmes for opening up public services for competition and choice, and for widening the scope for targeted services, treated them as analogous to goods. This ignored relational and contextual elements in human well-being, and the potentially crucial role of services in meeting such needs.
Source: Bill Jordan, 'Public services and the service economy: individualism and the choice agenda', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 35 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan
A report by a committee of MPs on the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill said that the proposed safeguards against abuse of Ministerial powers were important, but insufficient.
Source: Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, First Special Report, (Session 2005-06), HC 878, House of Commons Regulatory Reform Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
A report set out the case for more public services to be provided by co-owned companies. Employee-owned companies offered public services a level of employee commitment and innovation that could transform the experience of service users.
Source: Charlie Leadbeater, Innovation Included: Why co-owned businesses are good for public services, Employee Ownership Association (020 7022 1960)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill was published. The Bill was designed to allow the government to deliver reform of outdated or over-complicated legislation more quickly, and enable the mergers of those regulators not covered by separate legislation.
Source: Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, Cabinet Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Cabinet Office press release | BCC press release | CBI press release
Date: 2006-Jan
An audit report said that the large majority of private finance initiative (PFI) construction projects completed between 2003 and 2008 were delivered on or close to the contracted timetable: but prices were more likely to have increased than in the previous (2003) survey. 69 per cent of PFI projects reported delivering to the contracted timetable in 2008 (similar to 2003 results) and 65 per cent to the contracted price.
Source: Performance of PFI Construction, National Audit Office (020 7798 7400)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
A survey examined public perceptions of accountability across a range of service areas such as health, education, transport, and crime. The public 'default' was to blame Westminster for public service failure, especially where the failure was seen to be country-wide. Given a total of 10 options for who was responsible, the majority of respondents chose central government as the body most responsible if health waiting lists were to get longer across England, if the police became less effective across England, and if exam results across England were to get worse (48, 45, and 36 per cent respectively).
Source: Who's Accountable? The challenge of giving power away in a centralised political culture, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100) and PricewaterhouseCoopers
Links: Report | IPPR press release | PWC press release
Date: 2006-Jan
A report said that public procurement rules discriminated against companies, voluntary organizations, and on some occasions the public sector, in the provision of public services. The rules provided perverse incentives to avoid tax, and might prevent effective reforms to public services.
Source: A Fair Field and No Favours: Competitive neutrality in UK public service market, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: Report | CBI press release
Date: 2006-Jan